The California golf cart accident attorneys at Nadrich & Cohen have handled many golf cart injury claims since the law firm’s founding in 1990. Even though most golf carts can’t exceed 15 mph, golf cart accidents happen, and they can cause serious injuries which can sometimes even be fatal. This is because golf carts often lack safety features, such as doors to protect occupants.
Our golf cart injury lawyers have investigated and successfully pursued golf cart claims against golf courses, country clubs, resorts, workplaces, amusement parks, campgrounds, employers, golf cart manufacturers, other businesses and individuals.
Contact the California law firm of Nadrich & Cohen today to speak with a golf cart accident attorney if you or a loved one was injured by a golf cart. Call us now – we offer a 100% free, no-obligation consultation. We don’t charge a fee until and unless we recover money to compensate you for your golf cart accident injuries.
Golf Cart Accident Compensation
If you or a loved one were injured in a golf cart accident, we may be able to help you obtain financial compensation for:
Medical Bills
You have probably incurred medical bills due to your golf cart accident. You may have been hurt badly enough to need future medical treatments, as well. If that’s the case, you’ll incur more medical expenses in the future. We can help you recover compensation for all past and future medical bills related to your golf cart accident.
Lost Wages
You may have had to miss time from work because of your golf cart accident. Your golf cart crash may have left you hurt too badly to work, or you might have needed to take days off from work to attend medical appointments. If your golf cart accident caused you to lose wages, we can help you obtain compensation for those wages.
Loss Of Earning Capacity
Your golf cart accident might have left you unable to ever work again, or unable to do the work you used to. We can help you get compensated for any loss or reduction of your earning capacity related to your golf cart accident.
Pain And Suffering
Just because golf cart accidents happen at low speeds doesn’t mean they can’t cause severe injuries which lead to physical pain and mental suffering. You may qualify for compensation for your pain and suffering in a golf cart accident lawsuit.
Wrongful Death
Despite the low speeds involved in golf cart accidents, they can sometimes be fatal. If you lost a loved one to a golf cart crash, you might qualify for compensation for their pain, suffering, medical bills, funeral costs and burial costs. You may be eligible to be compensated for the loss of their love, companionship, income and household services.
Do I Need A Golf Cart Accident Lawyer?
If you were hurt in a golf cart accident, you need a lawyer if you want to recover all the money you deserve and if you don’t want to have to worry about hurting your own case.
If you have been injured in a golf cart accident, you will probably end up being paid for your injuries by an insurance company.
The thing is, insurance companies are not your friends. They are not interested in your well-being. They are only interested in making money.
Paying you what you are entitled to under California law isn’t in their best interests. They make more profit by paying you much less than you’re entitled to. They will only pay you what you are entitled to if you make them.
How can you make them pay you what you’re entitled to? The only way is to sue them. The thing is, they know you can’t sue them and win if you don’t have a lawyer. So, if you don’t have a lawyer, what are they going to do? They’re going to offer you a small fraction of what you actually deserve for your injuries, daring you to sue them over the lowball offer.
The only way you can force an insurance company to offer you a fair settlement is by hiring experienced golf cart accident lawyers like Nadrich & Cohen. Insurance companies keep files on personal injury lawyers. When they look up their files on us, they see that we have a very long track record of success in court. They see that if they take us on in court, they’ll probably lose. This is why virtually all of our cases settle out of court. Insurance companies typically settle out of court with our clients once they see our clients are represented by us because the insurance companies don’t want to waste expensive legal fees on a court case they know they’ll lose.
In short, hiring us is the best way to force an insurance company to pay you what you deserve for your injuries.
In addition, it is dangerous for you to talk to insurance companies. They literally train their adjusters to trick you into saying certain things. They want you to say things, while being recorded, that imply your accident was your fault or that imply you’re not hurt as badly as you claim. If they successfully manipulate you into saying these things on recording, this can severely hurt your case. They can use these things you say to justify paying you less money or even no money at all.
Let us talk with the insurance companies for you instead. We know all of their tricks and won’t fall for them. We’ll handle all communications and negotiations with insurance companies for you. In fact, we’ll handle every aspect of your case for you so all you have to do is focus on recovering from your golf cart accident injuries.
Causes Of Golf Cart Accidents
Golf cart accidents may look quite a bit like car accidents. Some of them, though, won’t look anything at all like a car accident. A lot of golf cart accidents involve people who hit the ground after they fall out of a golf cart – people typically don’t fall out of moving cars.
Operators of golf carts can be reckless, drowsy, distracted or drunk, just like drivers of other vehicles. Other vehicles can cause accidents involving golf carts. Golf carts can crash because of the actions of pedestrians. Accidents can happen whenever dangerous things occur.
Common reasons golf cart accidents occur include:
- Overcrowded golf carts
- The inexperience of those driving golf carts
- Drugged or drunk drivers of golf carts
- Overloaded golf carts
- Muddy or wet surfaces
- Racing with golf carts
- Drivers braking golf carts too hard
- Turning too sharply
- Reversing too quickly
- Impacts
- People hanging legs and arms from the golf cart
Golf cart accidents are sometimes caused by failures of equipment. Malfunctions can cause accidents when golf carts aren’t properly maintained.
Golf carts are sometimes made with defective, dangerous parts which can cause accidents.
Golf Cart Accident Types
There are many types of golf cart accidents, which can lead to many different damages and injuries.
Common golf cart accident types include:
- Golf carts colliding with other vehicles: Golf carts may collide with trucks, cars or even other golf carts. Serious injuries and vehicle damage may be the result.
- Rollovers: It is common for golf carts to tip over. It is especially common when uneven terrain or turns at high speeds come into play. Rollovers can lead to severe injuries like internal injuries, broken bones and head injuries.
- Ejections: Those in golf carts may be ejected from the cart when it collides with an object or overturns. Ejections may lead to severe injuries like broken bones, spinal cord injuries or traumatic brain injuries.
- Golf carts colliding with pedestrians: A pedestrian may end up badly injured or even dead if they are struck by a golf cart, especially when the cart is driven by someone who is inexperienced or is driven at very high speeds.
Common Golf Cart Accident Injuries
Golf carts aren’t just useful on golf courses. They are street legal in a lot of locations in California, and some neighborhoods are built with them in mind. Unfortunately, this means that golf carts sometimes get in accidents with larger vehicles.
Golf carts may seem safe because they are small and slow, but golf cart crashes can be very dangerous. Some golf carts can go 25 miles per hour, and passengers can be hurt pretty badly at this speed, especially since they lack protection or airbags. Golf carts can end up being totally crushed in major accidents.
Those in golf carts are very likely to be hurt when they collide with other vehicles, even when the location has a low speed limit. A wide variety of injuries can result.
Injuries which are common in golf cart accidents include:
- Broken bones
- Concussions
- Respiratory issues
- Spine injuries
- Neck injuries
- Scrapes, scratches or cuts
Golf Cart Accidents – Who Pays?
Our legal team leaves no stone unturned in looking for compensation for golf cart accident victims who have been injured as a golf cart driver, golf cart passenger or pedestrian. We look at all possible means of recovery in a personal injury claim, including:
- Negligence of golf cart operator
- Negligent maintenance of the golf cart by a business or facility
- Defective golf cart design
If you or a loved one has been injured in a golf cart crash, contact the law firm of Nadrich & Cohen now by calling us for a free consultation. We handle these cases throughout the state of California. One of the golf cart accident attorneys of Nadrich & Cohen will provide a thorough case evaluation and advise you of your legal options free of charge. We never charge a fee for our services unless a recovery is made.
How Common Are Golf Cart Accidents?
Researchers studied golf cart injuries in 2008. They found that 147,696 Americans were treated in emergency departments for golf cart-related injuries from 1990 to 2006. This represents 8,688 Americans per year. Children were 31.2% of the cases. Soft tissue damage was the most common type of injury. It was present in 47.7% of cases. 7.8% of cases required hospitalization.
The most common reason for injury was falling from a golf cart. This occurred in 38.3% of cases. Falling greatly increased the risk of head injury, neck injury and concussion. 70.3% of the injuries happened at sports facilities. 15.2% of the injuries happened on public property or streets. 14.5% of the injuries happened around a farm or home. Injuries which happened on a street were more likely to result in concussion or hospitalization. Injuries increased steadily in each year. There was a 132.3% increase in injuries over the entire study period.
What Are Laws For Golf Cart Operation In California?
Golf cart registration is not required for use on roads that allow golf cart use within one mile of a golf course. Golf carts may not be used on roads with speed limits over 25 mph except by ordinance or local authority resolution. Gasoline-powered carts must bear a California emissions requirements compliance label.
Golf carts driven on the road in California must be equipped with:
- A headlamp, tail lamp and stop lamp.
- A rear reflector and a horn.
- Front/rear turn signals and front/side reflectors.
- A mirror providing a 200 foot rear view.
- Windshield wipers, fenders and a safety-glazed windshield.
Golf Cart Injury Claim Evaluation
If you were injured in a golf cart accident, contact the office of Nadrich & Cohen now for a free consultation. Let our golf cart accident lawyers answer your questions. We have experience handling golf cart injury cases.
We have been representing those injured in golf cart accidents since 1990. We have recovered over $350,000,000 for our clients. Our vast experience in helping California injury victims means that hiring us gives you the best chance of recovering full, fair compensation for your golf cart accident injuries.
If you can’t afford medical treatment for your golf cart accident injuries, we can get you to doctors who won’t charge you until your case is over. Doctors are willing to do this for our clients because we have a reputation for getting great results for our clients.
Remember, we don’t charge a fee until and unless we win your case.
Call us now.
